


Only Fools

by RinaRose



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Post-Canon, Taako and Magnus love each other but they're not in love okay, a little bit of polyamory, everyone else is a background character, it's not a romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24257467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinaRose/pseuds/RinaRose
Summary: Taako and Magnus are the embodiment of the phrase ‘opposites attract.’ Magnus is big and burly where Taako is slight and graceful. If Magnus is like a golden retriever, Taako is like a housecat. Magnus rushes in, Taako’s good out here.They’re close enough to celebrate each other’s victories during the good cycles, and comfort each other during the bad cycles. And then comes a very good cycle on the Beach World.I really like the idea of Magnus and Taako being friends with benefits, and where this relationship could go over time, especially after they get their memories back.
Relationships: Julia Burnsides/Magnus Burnsides, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), Magnus Burnsides & Taako, Magnus Burnsides/Taako
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love when fics have little playlists that go along with them, and I've been feeling supper sappy lately so here's my playlist of sappy love songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7vlcQQwa53fWhzopkyoZZ1?si=QOhQKl1QTrmVe0OOLOq0rA
> 
> I'm also bad with titles and originally wanted to take a line from Taylor Swift's "Lover," but there are just so many great songs/lyrics to choose from. And rushing in is kinda a theme in this fic, hence the title.
> 
> Enjoy!

Taako and Magnus are the embodiment of the phrase ‘opposites attract.’ Magnus is big and burly where Taako is slight and graceful. If Magnus is like a golden retriever, Taako is like a housecat. Magnus rushes in, Taako’s good out here.

  
When it comes to the crew of the Starblaster, Magnus and Taako are polar opposites. Out of all of them, Captain Davenport expected these two to butt heads the most. And they do – sure, they fight and rag on each other constantly, but it’s clear to everyone on the ship that they don’t mean it. Taako and Magnus are friends. And as the cycles wear on, they become close. Of course Taako will never be as close to anyone as he is with Lup, but Magnus becomes a near second.

  
Beyond the emotional closeness of being friends is a physical closeness too. Part of being friends with Magnus – and part of living on the Starblaster at all – involves sharing space all the time. It isn’t unusual for Magnus to rest his arm on the back of Taako’s chair while they eat dinner, or for Taako to drape himself over Magnus’s lap while they hang out in the common room of the ship. During battles, they work so in sync. It’s Magnus’s job to protect everyone, but when the fight is over, he almost always checks on Taako first. They always share a tight hug when they regenerate after a cycle where one of them has died.

  
And they have sleepovers. Taako would never admit it, but it’s an open secret that he hates sleeping alone. Most of the time he and Lup will share a bed, or at the very least Taako will drag all his pillows and blankets to her room and sleep on the floor. The first time Lup died, Taako had been despondent, and while the whole crew did their best to comfort him, it had been Magnus that noticed Taako hadn’t slept once in the week since his sister’s death. It had been Magnus who had laid down next to Taako, letting the elf curl into his side and cry into his shirt. It had been Magnus who continued to lay down next to Taako every night for the rest of that cycle, wordlessly carrying his pillow and blanket back to his room each morning, only to return each night.

  
When the cycle ends and Lup returns, Magnus is actually a little sad – he’s glad to have her back, of course, but he also feels like he’s no longer needed by Taako, and for some reason that hurts. He watches as the twins disappear into Lup’s room at the end of that first night back together, telling himself that the twinge in his heart is simply loneliness, not jealousy. That is, until the next morning at breakfast, when Taako makes a comment about Lup not being as warm as Magnus. And three days later (not that Magnus was counting), when Taako asks Magnus to have a sleepover with him. Ever since then, Taako and Magnus have sleepovers almost weekly. They build blanket forts, and have pillow fights, and sometimes even wrestle; Magnus braids Taako’s hair, and Taako paints Magnus’s nails.

  
They’re close.

They’re close enough to celebrate each other’s victories during the good cycles, and comfort each other during the bad cycles. And then comes a very good cycle on the Beach World.  
Taako has learned how to surf and taught Barry how to swim, and Magnus was busy training (scaring the shit out of) everyone, but there’s still plenty of time for relaxing. One of Taako’s favorite things to do is to make lunch and have a picnic in the sand.

  
On this particular day, about halfway through the cycle, almost everyone is doing their own thing. Merle is still sick in bed, Lucretia is working on her secret project, and Cap’n-port is doing … something; Taako doesn’t really know or care what. Lup and Barry are off doing some experiment together, and though Taako had teased his sister about going on a date with Bluejeans, he can’t wait until she returns to hear all the details. Of course, it’s not an actual date, and probably the most that will happen between those two is accidentally brushing fingers while Barry hands Lup a utensil, but still. Taako lives for drama, and on an uninhabited beach world, you find drama wherever you can.

  
Taako is going to have a picnic with or without anyone else, but he rather serendipitously finds Magnus hiding in the pantry as he prepares lunch.

  
“MAGNUS!” Magnus shouts, and Taako doesn’t even flinch. He simply reaches past the burly man for the rice, leaving the door to the pantry open as he turns back to the kitchen.

  
“You did that one last week, Mango.” Taako says, adding, “and you better not have messed up my pantry again, or you’re reorganizing it.”

  
“There’s only so many places to hide on the Starblaster, but you’ve gotta be ready for anything.” Magnus explains, conveniently glossing over the last thing Taako said. “What’s for lunch?”

  
“Sushi.” Though he hadn’t used the nasty kelp shoes, Taako had taken Merle’s suggestion and made some baller sushi a few times. The fish on this planet are fresh and delicious. “Go get your bathing suit on, we’re having a picnic.” He doesn’t even have to ask; he knows Magnus will be down for some hangout time.

  
“Hell yeah!” Magnus confirms, already on his way down the hall to his room.

The sushi is delicious, like everything Taako makes. After eating, they spend some time swimming around before eventually ending up lying next to each other on their blanket in the sand. And there’s that closeness again; Magnus lies on his side, one arm under his own head and the other across Taako’s stomach, hand landing on his hip. Taako lies on his back with his head next to Magnus’s shoulder, letting their legs tangle together. It’s a warm day, but the heat doesn’t bother him. Being this close to Magnus is nice. They lay there for a while, just talking.  
There’s a lull in the conversation, and Taako isn’t even sure what makes him do it, but he tilts his head up to look at Magnus’s face, and then with a surge of warmth in his chest, he kisses him. It’s short and sweet, and when he pulls back he can’t help but chuckle at the innocent confusion on Magnus’s face.

  
“Is this okay?” Magnus asks, as if he had been the one to kiss Taako. Taako chuckles again.

  
“Yeah, my dude. It’s good with me if it’s good with you.”

  
Magnus smiles, but it isn’t all happy, an emotion there that Taako can’t place. Magnus untangles himself from Taako and sits up, and Taako follows suit. Shit, he didn’t mean to make things weird; he doesn’t even know what made him do that in the first place. Magnus is the one to rush into things like that, not Taako.

  
Magnus clears his throat before speaking. “It’s okay, I just – I don’t know how I feel. I mean, you’re great, Taako, and I like being with you, but –”

  
Taako cuts him off. “Hey, don’t get it twisted, Mags. You’re my best friend, and you’re super hot, and I haven’t had any dick in a long time.” Magnus laughs at that. “But I promise, I’m not secretly in love with you or anything. No hidden feelings here. I just thought we could try something new, but if you’re not into it, that’s fine. It never even happened, ya dig?” Sure, he would probably say the same exact thing even if he were secretly in love with Magnus, but they know each other well enough at this point. Taako thinks Magnus can tell that he isn’t lying, and he hopes he won’t be hurt by hearing that Taako has no feelings for him either.

  
Thankfully, they’re still on the same page here, because after a moment, Magnus smiles.

  
“No, this is good. I like it. Like a friends-with-benefits kinda thing.”

  
“Sure, if you want to call it that. I’m not one for labels, but you do you,” Taako replies.

  
“Or I could do you,” Magnus jokes, and Taako smacks him playfully on the arm.

  
“Well what are you waiting for then? Fucking kiss me already. Isn’t rushing in your whole –” he’s cut off by the crush of Magnus’s weight on top of him as the man basically tackles him onto the blanket, bringing their lips together again. Taako can’t help but smile through the kiss.

They don’t do more than make out on the beach for a little while. It’s nice in so many ways. It’s nice to feel intimate with someone after so long. It’s nice to hear the waves on the shore, feel the warm sun on his skin. And it’s nice to discover something new about Magnus, like the taste of his lips and the feel of his teeth against Taako’s neck. They’ve known each other for twenty years, so each new thing between them is like a tiny miracle at this point.

  
Eventually Taako notices the sun dipping lower in the sky, and he knows they should get back to the ship. Though he could probably stay here forever, he knows the rest of the crew counts on the twins to make dinner, plus they would probably get worried and send out a search party if he and Magnus never returned, and he definitely doesn’t want the others to know about this just yet. So he manages to peel himself away from Magnus, they pack up their picnic gear, and head back to the ship, walking only slightly closer together than normal.

  
When they get back, Taako puts away the picnic supplies before saying, “I need a shower before dinner.”

  
“Oh yeah, I’m covered in sand,” Magnus agrees. “You go first, I’ll wait.” The Starblaster only has one bathroom, and while a lot of boundaries have been crossed in twenty years, they still try to give each other privacy.

  
“Fuck that noise,” Taako says, and surreptitiously grabs Magnus’s hand, leading him into the bathroom. Yup, they’re doing this. Magnus is surprised by Taako’s forwardness, and honestly, Taako is too. Apparently spending so much time with Magnus is rubbing off on him. Thirty minutes, one shower, and a couple of handjobs later, they leave the bathroom going their separate ways, each going to their own room to get dressed with stupid smiles on their faces. Most of the crew is back on the ship by this point, but no one seems to notice the two of them both leaving the bathroom in nothing but towels, and if anyone does, they don’t mention it.

It’s all downhill from there. It doesn’t take them long until they’re sleeping with each other on a regular basis. They were already sleeping together – actually sleeping – often enough that nothing majorly changes. The only thing that’s different is that now sex is one of their sleepover activities. And it’s great.

  
Taako squeals when Lup tells him the endearing (nerdy) things Barry says to her, and Lup squeals when Taako tells her about getting fucked by the hunk down the hall. And it goes on like that for a while; for every vanilla story Lup has about Barry, Taako has a much different story about Magnus, but the twins are happy for each other.

  
Weeks turn into months, and months turn into cycles, but it’s always the same. They leave the beach world, and cycle through many others. And although they both have other options now, it’s always Magnus that Taako wants in his bed. Thankfully, it seems Magnus feels the same.

  
Taako is grateful for this companionship they have, and that becomes even more true after Barry and Lup finally get together. He’s happy for his sister, but it’s hard not to feel lonely when Lup starts spending more time in Barry’s bed than her own. Being with Magnus helps ease that feeling.

  
And somehow, despite sleeping together for decades, they never catch feelings. In a way, they’re perfect for each other; they balance each other out. Opposites attract, after all. But it’s this perfect balance that lets them know that they don’t need anything else. They don’t need more; they don’t need romance. They’re perfect as they are. They’re lovers, but they aren’t in love, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.


	2. Chapter 2

100 years of stolen memories changed both of them. During the century stolen from them by Lucretia and the voidfish, Taako had been much more open. Yeah, he was never good with emotions in the first place, but at least he hadn’t always denied everything either. Erasing Lup from his life, making him believe he had grown up alone, had left Taako broken and cynical. To put it simply, the Taako who first comes to the Bureau of Balance is a jerk.

  
Inversely, the Magnus who had worked for the IPRE had been a bit of a jerk. He was brutish and forceful and only cared about the goal of the mission, protecting those on his team. In a strange way, stealing his memories had made Magnus a better person – though in reality it was probably settling down in Raven’s Roost, taking up a craft, and meeting the love of his life that turned Magnus into the caring, just person he is now.

So they have both changed, but by some string of fate, perhaps woven by Istus herself, they’re still polar opposites of each other, still attracting. Though their time at the BoB isn’t long enough to foster any grand revelations between the two – it had taken them 20 years to get together in the first place, after all – they begin to grow close again, as friends.

  
And when their memories return and the dust settles, they are able to look into each other’s eyes with the deep understanding of two people who have been together for over 100 years. While it seems like everything has changed in their lives, the core of their relationship will always be the same. They’re best friends, partners, forever; the fact that they found each other again, have started a friendship again, even without their memories, is proof positive.

“Are you in love with Taako?” Kravitz asks him in a low voice, catching Magnus so completely off guard that he almost drops the dish he’s washing. It’s just the two of them in the kitchen; Taako is still in the dining room chatting away with Angus about the latest Caleb Cleveland novel that he claims he definitely hasn’t read but somehow knows all about.

  
Magnus hesitates, mostly because he doesn’t know how to answer the question. “Uhhh, no?” he answers, but it comes out sounding more like a question.

  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I’m not trying to intimidate you, it was an honest question,” Kravitz explains. “I’m not angry or jealous, or upset at all. I just want to know, because you make him happy, and I want both of you to be happy.”

  
“Hey, I’m not trying to steal your man,” Magnus tries to laugh off the heaviness of this conversation.

  
“You’ve known him much longer than I have,” Kravitz shrugs. Everything about him is done with such a calm demeanor that even the awkwardness of this conversation seems completely normal coming out of his mouth. “And no one said anything about stealing. I don’t see why we can’t share.”

  
Realization dawns on Magnus, and his eyes go wide, but he also relaxes a lot, some tension he hadn’t realized was there draining from his shoulders. “You’re a good guy, Krav, and I appreciate that. But I was telling the truth, I’m not in love with Taako.”

  
“Hmm,” Kravitz seems to mull it over for a moment before speaking. “It’s just that he acts so different around you. He’s comfortable with you. He’s as comfortable with you as he is with Lup, but he doesn’t act like that around any of the others. And he flirts with you. And I’m not sure you even notice, but you flirt back.” Kravitz is pensive, and Magnus has to hand it to him for being so open-minded, because he’s clearly not upset by the idea of someone flirting with his boyfriend. “And he says things about you. I’m not entirely sure about the nature of your relationship, before, but he says things that imply that there _was_ a relationship.”

  
Magnus sighs. “I… yeah, there was a relationship, but it wasn’t a romantic thing. Taako never wanted to put a label on it, but we were sort of like, friends with benefits. I don’t want to say it was just sex, because I loved him – I still do love him – but just not in that way. It’s weird, and I don’t know how to describe it. I want to say I love him like family, but you don’t usually have sex with your family, so.” He shrugs.

  
Kravitz chuckles at that. “I understand,” he says, but Magnus keeps going.

  
“It was never romance, with us. It never even got close to what I had with Julia. With Julia, I knew the first time I met her that she was the love of my life. I always felt like I could have stayed with Taako forever, because those never ending cycles felt like they would last forever. So it was comfortable, more than anything. But with Julia, Julia was my forever. She still is. Does that make sense?” he asks, meeting Kravitz’s eye for what he realizes is the first time during this conversation. He nods solemnly, and Magnus finishes with, “So you understand, I love Taako, but I’m not _in love_ with Taako.” It’s a statement, not a question.

  
“Aww Mags, you’re such a sap.” Taako’s voice startles them both from the doorway, and they turn together, looking like a couple of deer caught in headlights. Taako just laughs.

  
“How much of that did you hear?” Kravitz asks.

  
“Enough,” Taako responds, breezing into the room. He’s carrying the dish with what’s left of the delicious tiramisu he made for dessert; through the now empty doorway, Magnus can see Angus still at the table, his face buried in the aforementioned Caleb Cleveland novel and not listening to their conversation, thank Istus.

  
Taako places the dish on the counter before turning to look at both the men in his life. He looks at Krav first. “How the fuck did I get so lucky with you?” He asks, reaching out and taking his boyfriend’s hand. Kravitz just shrugs awkwardly, and Magnus notes the change – Krav had been so smooth with him, but when Taako enters the conversation he becomes a little awkward and unsure of himself.

  
“Do you get it now, dummy?” Taako asks, still holding Krav’s hand, and only Taako could go from being sappy and sentimental to name-calling in .2 seconds flat. Nevertheless, he continues with sincerity in his voice, turning toward Magnus.

  
“Mags is my lover.” He leans in, cupping Magnus’s face with his free hand and giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek before taking his hand. Magnus smiles, feeling a warmth and a sense of belonging he hasn’t felt in a while bloom in his chest. Taako turns back to Kravitz. “And you’re my love,” he says, punctuating it with a tender kiss on the lips. He steps back to look at both of them again, standing between them, arms outstretched, still holding each of their hands.

  
There’s a weird moment when they all sort of look at each other. Kravitz nods, Taako smiles, and then Magnus can’t take it anymore and rushes forward, scooping Taako into a bone crushing hug. Taako hugs back after a second, and a few moments later Magnus reaches out an arm to pull Kravitz into it too, which he gracefully accepts.

  
They all understand.

They have a weird relationship, but everything about them is weird. They’re technically aliens who spent 100 years together traveling from plane to plane, after all.

  
Taako is in love with Kravitz, and Magnus knows there will never be another for him after Julia. But that doesn’t mean they can’t still find comfort in each other. Taako spent the better part of 100 years trying not to feel lonely, and Magnus was there for him at every step. It’s only right that Taako returns the favor now.

  
They have separate homes, but seriously, they live on opposite sides of the same town, not far apart at all. And Taako has a fucking mansion with about a million guest rooms. Even Angus has his own bedroom at Taako’s house, so it’s “No big thang” as Taako says, when Magnus claims the room next to the one Taako shares with Kravitz. Their rooms are connected through the en suite bathroom, which Magnus and Taako both find funny – the memory of their first time in the shower of the Starblaster hasn’t faded after being restored by the voidfish.

  
Magnus is over for dinner almost every night, and he spends a night or two at Taako’s house every week. Sometimes it’s planned, like when Kravitz has to work a long stretch and Taako calls him on his stone of farspeech because he can’t sleep. Other times it’s spontaneous, like when they finish dinner and Taako grabs a bottle of wine in one hand, Magnus’s hand in the other, and says, “C’mon Mags, let’s have a sleepover!” leading him up the stairs to the bedroom, both of them laughing. Magnus is known for rushing in, but when it comes to this, it’s always been Taako to lead the way. He may be terrible with emotions, but that’s okay, because there really aren’t any extra emotions attached here.

  
It’s just Taako and Magnus, still opposites, still attracting, still being perfect together.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm pretty late to this fandom, but I just finished TAZ Balance a couple weeks ago and am totally obsessed. I need people to talk to about it with, so please drop a comment if you're inclined! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
